Restoring STAR Rebate Checks

Republican New York State Senators are embracing the latest forms of electronic communication to encourage people to put pressure on Albany to restore STAR rebate checks, which were eliminated to help fill a massive deficit in the recently approved New York State Budget.

State Senator Michael Ranzenhofer (R-Amherst) is among those reaching out through Facebook to encourage people to sign an on line petition to restore the rebate checks.

"You know a lot of young people but middle aged and older people are using these outlets in terms of communicating and we're doing the same thing," said Razenhofer, who says he too has joined the millions of others who have facebook pages.

An admitted "two finger" typist, Ranzenhofer says he does rely on assistance from "bright young members" of his staff in his forays into the world of electronic communications.

His group, "New York State Taxpayers Need Star RebateChecks" is one of two formed thus far.

And while it's members are mostly from upstate New York there is a similar Facebook group called "I Want My Star Rebate Check"whose members are decidedly downstate.

(To find these groups, log on to facebook and then use the search function to search facebook for: "star rebate" .

Both groups direct users to another web site where there's an on line petition to sign.

If you still prefer to do things the old fashioned way, Republican State Senators have paper petitions available to sign at their offices.

Since the budget was passed eliminating the STAR rebate checks State Senate Democrats have also announced plans to introduce legislation to restore them.